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Shirlee Funk
SHIRLEE FUNK
Iowa City
Shirlee Anne (DeVore) Funk, 60, of Iowa City, died Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014, at home after a four-year-long battle with cancer.
Shirlee was born Dec. 26, 1953, the daughter of Vernon L. Devore and Irene M. (Huff) Devore, in their home near Morning Sun, Iowa. She grew up in Wapello, Iowa, graduated from the Wapello High School in 1972 and from Wheaton College in Illinois in 1976. She made her home in Iowa City in 1977 and married David Bruce Funk on Aug. 14, 1982. She had two daughters, Lydia M. Funk and Deidre H. Funk.
A skillful wordsmith with a deep appreciation of nature and beauty, Shirlee had a flair for editing and artistic design and was an active and well-liked participant in local, national and international doll collector organizations. She described herself as "a contemporary student of traditional Japanese culture" and wrote haiku poetry, collected Japanese dolls and woodblock prints and became a recognized English language expert on ningyo, traditional Japanese dolls, with multiple publications to her credit. Her book "Nature & Culture" illustrated her fine sense of visual design and combined her haiku with Shin Hanga woodblock prints from her private collection.
Shirlee's other talents included international cuisine and sewing. She organized vintage fashion shows to help raise funds for local charities and self-published beautiful and useful calendars and cookbooks. She loved flowers and gardening, and along with her daughters, rescued and fostered many monarch caterpillars from chrysalis to butterfly.
She was preceded in death by her father.
She is survived by her mother; two brothers, David R. Devore and Harlan V. Devore; two sisters, Muriel K. Henning and Corrinne Tryon; and her husband and daughters.
As she deeded her body to the University of Iowa College of Medicine, there will be no funeral. A memorial service is planned in the near future.
Online condolences may be sent for Shirlee's family through the Web at www.
gayandciha.com.
Gifts and remembrances can be made to the American Cancer Society or the American Diabetes Association.
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